Fuselage embracing hangar door



p 1953 A. D. MARGISON 2,651,359

FUSELAGE EMBRACING HANGAR DOOR Filed June 23, 1949 S Sheets-Sheet l Jivezdor ARTHUR Z M/ G/so/v MW 4' J Aii'fy P 1953 A. D. MARGISON 2,651,359

FUSELAGE EMBRACING HANGAR DOOR Filed June 23, 1949 Iwmzor ARTHUR D. Mme/sou B g g; M 4 4. J 2 A2996 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 P 8, 1953 A. D. MARGISON 2,651,359

FUSELAGE EMBRACING HANGAR DOOR I I Filed June 25, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ,liwerzfar ARTHUR D, MAR N against weather conditionsrwhich wouldmake 30 r a r riz deanvae m y. be

a: plurality otfiaps-oontrollable in their fuselage f e- The two-'movabl Patented Sept. 8 1 953 A UNITED STATES -PATENT :[OFFICE FUSELAGEJEMBRACING HANGAR DOOR ArthurDonfaldMargison; Toronto, Ontario,

anada =l =Applicationl-June.23, 1949, Serial No.'100,804 i ljfllaim. (Cl. 160-180) 2 This inventionzrelates;to i nprovements; in air Figure 3 is. an-end elevation of a door accordcraft hangars and;.;speciflcally;. to an improved xingv-to-Figure 2 illustrating the manner in which a type. of movable section ordoor; oisuch constructhe same; may 1 be manipulated to embrace an tion that the storage spacerof thewh-anga-r may aircraft fuselage. be substantially increased. Figure 4 is a cut-away perspective view of an .Up to the present; time,:-prob1ems =;have1arisen i. alternative form of door according tothe inveninrespect to thestorageispace of aircraft hangars ,tionwhichincludes a. depressible or deformable and particularly for. the housin -f :large:..airi medium.

craft under emergency: conditionszinpold iCli- Figure 5 is an elevation of a pair of doorsacmates. For-instance where aehangar is already 10 cording to the concept of- Figure 4.

completely housing;:aircraft; to .capacityzand it is Figure 6 isan enlarged sectional view on the required to house; ;fur.theraircraft; for al;period line 6'6 of Figure 5.

of time, either for repair work-a onzzmerelyg for Figure 7 is a planview of a locking 'pinused protection against ireez-ingzconditions; it is not in conjunction with-the doors according to; the

possible to-accommodate:thezadditionalaircraft l5 modification ofzFigure 5. without; removingaone: orumorerofe those already It will be readily apparent that many modifi- .housed or havingregard tg thesize of thehangar cations Of the invention herein disclosed Willfbe it might not-be, :possible torhouse-r thesientire Obvious to skilled persons. .The illustrationsdisstructure of a-;large;a;ircraft.;= a; resu1t,: such closed herein are choices ofpreferred structures aircraft mustbeileftgsubject toitheweatherconwhich are practical both from operation and cost ditions prevailing-whichmayzresult in substanstandpoints and which accompl hv e Objects -tial difiiculty to;-;get themi airborne again when f he invention. necessary, 1 The one preferred type is illustrated in Figures 1 The present-invention:.makes it-possible to 1 to 3 and inthis case a sliding doorsection In house vitalgpartsrofiaircrafit such as the'forward has a fi n a u l embracing member the necessaryz repair.workgimpossible. in impre V It is-an:objectt of th'e inventi0n-to provide in p riphery of. the;fuselage embracing member i" engage surfaces of an. aircraftfuselage to 00- a y d p m mber l5 of She sociated with the supportof the section is not im- 0wlage embracing member'iwhen the do portant insofar as the concept of this invention s-;:employed inlthe conventional manner.

is concerned-the latter specifically relating to -In-use, when door sections accordingto the the means for embracing the aircraft in commodification disclosed in Figures 1 to 3 are embination with the movable section and which is played man aircraft hangar, the aircraft may carried thereby. 46 be movedthrough the open doorwayto the ex- Other objects of-the inventionwill'be' apprecitentof disposing'the-frontportion thereof 1 e ated by a study of=the*following" specification Wings "and/motors,v within the hangars The taken in conjunction with the accompanying weather-occluding: panels'als on the open doors drawings.

In the drawings, 50;.fuselage.embracingmembers: and the sections Figure 1 illustrates a perspective View of the lfi'aremoved towardseach other and the inter- Figure 2 is an elevation of one of the doors 55. are {joined to'one anot which may be-employed according toj Figure 1 zipper device'l v I :disclosing aparticulan-type 'of structurewhich which 1111151? be d'f e opera r to the :would. be suitable and-which is formedi of a outward position to leav Y- embracing dimension by a=--si mp1e zipperomechdoors 20 and 2|, are brought together and in the T anism I areaof the embracing members ll, extend about games I3. The other free end of the cord (not shown) 5 is then drawn by an operator to cause the zipper blosure members to proceed radially inwardly, to causejhe members H to embrace the fuselage at this point. The free portions 25 of the flaps 12 are laid along the fuselage surface 26 as illus- 1o trated in Figure 3. Finally, suitable straps 21 and 28 are passed about the fuselage to bind down these free flaps.

In this way, therefore, the front portion of the aircraft is enclosed in the hangar shielded l5 from the elements without it being necessary to introduce the complete aircraft to the hangar. Thus, the aircraft may be protected in a hangar where other aircraft are housed and there would not be sufficient space for further aircraft. Al-

ternatively, of course, and particularly in the case of repairs to certain parts of the aircraft, the tail end of the fuselage or a wing might be housed within the hangar in a similar way.

It will be noted that in Figure 2 the flaps I2 extend radially and inwardly a predetermined distance toward the theoretical central point 25 at which the various zipper closure members 23 will be disposed closely together when the door section is prepared for normal or conventional so use. When the zipper closure members are brought to this most inward position defined by the chain line 30, two methods may be employed for closing the remainder of the space. Thus,

the flaps, if desired, may be made to extend very close to the theoretical central point 29 and the ends merely tied with a suitable string. On the other hand, a pair of circular plates may be employed to close the opening left when two such sections are brought together. a simple form of a pair of discs of sheet metal (not shown) disposed on either side of the flap surfaces and joined in the middle by a bolt. In any case, it will be appreciated that there will be a number of ways of providing a suitable inward terminus to the flaps. In some cases attention to this detail may not be necessary where the weather-occluding panel 18 is considered sufiicient.

The preferred form of the invention is illustrated in Figures 4 to 7 and embodies a pair of slidable sections 3| and 32, each of which comprises a substantially conventional structure haying a deformable portion 34. In this case, the

frame 35 of the door section in the area of the deformable region incorporates a semi-circular framepiece 36 having inwardly depending ends 31 at the working edge 38 of the door section. A continuous body of a cellular elastomer suchas an aerated or foamed latex cushioning material preferably of the type having cavities 39 (Figure 4) is employed for the fuselage embracing member 40 of the deformable type.

Thi embodiment of the present invention re sults in a particularly practical and simple structure. In this case the deformable member 40 is preferably cemented only at its peripheral surface 41 to the semi-circular framepiece 35. The

inwardly extending side walls 42 of the frame piece 36 are not cemented or otherwise bonded to the deformable member 49. The outer surfaces of the deformable member 4!! may be sprayed or otherwise coated with a weather-protective coating.

In this case also, a weather-occluding panel Such may be in 40 43 may be employed which may be moved to a position to cover thedeformable member when the latter is not in use. In such instance the upper and lower edges of the section may be comprised of the channels 44 and 45 having the guideways 4B and 41 carrying the weather-occluding panels.

A very simple method may be employed for joining abutting edges of the deformable portions of a pair of sections and in this connection I prefer to employ a plurality of fastening forks 48 which are passed into oppositely located sockets 49 and 50 in abutting sections.

In use, the weather-occluding panels 43 are moved away from the deformable members thereof and the doors are moved inwardly to engage a fuselage generally indicated by numeral 51 in Figure 4. At this point the operator may insert a plurality of forks into the various sockets to cause the parted edges 52 of the deformable members to be drawn together. In this connection, the sockets are preferably formed in a manner such that a liner (not shown) in the form of a sleeve of a fibrous material, if desired, serves as a guide for the tynes of the forks. This avoids tearing of the deformable members in the region of their sockets.

A particular advantage of the deformable member illustrated in the modification of Figures 4 to 6 is that pressures against the fuselage structure are of little consequence and therefore, no damage can result to the fuselage as the door sections are moved to the embracing position. In this connection it is desirable to provide some means of assuring that the Weather-occluding panels 43 are withdrawn to expose the deformable members. These panels are therefore freely slidable and may include a soft bumper (not shown) so that in the event the operator does not take sufficient precaution the aircraft fuselage will not be damaged.

It will be understood in the foregoing specification that the term fuselage is designed to include as well the wings of the aircraft. It is intended that the present disclosure should not be construed in any limiting sense other than that indicated by the scope of the following claim.

What I claim as my invention is:

In an aircraft hangar door for cooperation with a similar aircraft hangar door, the said two doors uniting in use along mating edges, the improvement of forming said door with a fuselage cut-out in its mating edge and of mounting a deformable door panel member on said door to normally occupy and fill said aforementioned fuselage cut-out, said deformable door panel member being deformable inwardly of the mating edge of which it normally forms a part to permit the fuselage of an aircraft to enter into said fuselage cut-out of said door, said deformable door panel member comprising a sheet of cellular elastomer.

ARTHUR DONALD MARGISON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

